Early Morning Appointments

December 27, 2007

By William E. Richardson

"When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches" (Psalm 63:6, NKJV).

I awoke in the night, unable to sleep. It surprised me because as a camp counselor I'd had a full day. But I heard a voice. The young men in the beds around me slept soundly. I alone heard the voice calling -- the silent yet compelling voice of the Holy Spirit.

The building was mostly dark. Enough light shined for me to make my way down the stairs to the kitchen. Not to eat, but to pray. The Holy Spirit drew me to the quiet, vacant room to call on God.

I didn't have a watch. I don't know how long I prayed. When my burden lifted, I returned to bed and slept until time to get up.

That summer night advanced my understanding of God sometimes calling us awake to pray. I believe God calls hundreds if not thousands of Christians to prayer appointments in the early hours of every morning.

Stories abound of missionaries rescued from danger the very hour someone felt burdened to intercede for them. Others have been pulled from life-threatening situations because someone somewhere sent a prayer when God woke them.

At times, hospital patients, rebellious teens, marriages in danger, or soldiers on the battlefield need someone to stand in the gap for them, not later in the morning, but right now.

Other needs aren't immediate emergencies; they're ongoing situations. Yet they call for a concentrated, undisturbed prayer in the night. As a result, a nondisciple of Jesus takes a step closer to surrendering to God. Or the Spirit-inspired prayer helps pull a careless Christian from camping on the edge of a spiritual cliff.

The Bible says God gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2), but also speaks of God visiting "in the night" (Psalm 17:3). Jesus sometimes prayed "a long while before daylight" (Mark 1:35). Although Paul and Silas in prison were awake at midnight due to severe pain, God turned their discomfort into a way to help others (Acts 16:25).

For any follower of the Holy Spirit's promptings, there is meaning in awaking ahead of the alarm clock: the ministry of early morning intercession. The reasons for prayer are always there. When we answer the Holy Spirit's call in the night, the prayer someone needs is also there.

Are you already on call for early morning appointments with God? Are you ready to sign up? God may not expect you to intercede in the night often, but do you hear His call to be available?

-- William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.